Let us first start by understanding what Human trafficking truly is. Human trafficking, as defined by the Department of Homeland Security, is the trapping and exploitation of a person using deception, violence, or coercion. It generally takes three main forms: forced labour (which includes sex trafficking, which is the most common form of human trafficking), forced marriage, and forced organ removal.
In total, this issue—also known as modern slavery affects an estimated 40.3 million people globally and earns traffickers at least $150 billion annually, making it one of the world’s most profitable crimes.
Human trafficking in India
Human trafficking in India, although illegal under Indian law, remains a significant problem. People are frequently illegally trafficked through India for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced/bonded labour. In 2021, over one thousand human trafficking cases were reported with almost three thousand victims across India. The state of Maharashtra had the highest number of human trafficking cases in the country with over 260 cases.
Although no reliable study of forced and bonded labour has been completed, NGOs estimate this problem affects 20 to 65 million Indians. Men, women and children are trafficked in India for diverse reasons. Women and girls are trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage, especially in areas where the sex ratio is highly skewed towards males. Men and boys are trafficked for the purposes of labour, and may be sexually exploited by traffickers to serve as gigolos, massage experts, escorts, etc. A significant portion of children are subjected to forced labour as factory workers, domestic servants and agriculture workers, and have been used as armed combatants by some terrorist and insurgent groups.
India is also a destination where women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh are trafficked to, for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Nepali children are also trafficked to India for forced labour in circus shows. Indian women are trafficked to the Middle East for commercial sexual exploitation. Indian migrants who migrate willingly every year to the Middle East and Europe for work as domestic servants and low-skilled labourers may also end up part of the human trafficking industry.
In such cases, workers may have been 'recruited' by way of fraudulent recruitment practices that lead them directly into situations of forced labour, including debt bondage. In other cases, high debts incurred to pay recruitment fees leave them vulnerable to exploitation by corrupt and amoral employers in the destination countries, where some are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude, non-payment of wages, restrictions on movement, unlawful withholding of passports, and physical or sexual abuse/assault.
The government of India, recognising human trafficking to be the adverse issue that it is, has taken measures to ensure its forestallment. They are as follows:
Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA)- penalises trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation. Penalty of seven years’ to life imprisonment
Bonded Labour Abolition Act, the Child Labour Act, and the Juvenile Justice Act - all prohibit bonded and forced labour
Indian Penal Code Sections 366(A) and 372- prohibits kidnapping and selling minors into prostitution. Penalties under these provisions are a maximum of ten years' imprisonment and a fine.
Protection of Children from Sexual offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, which has come into effect from 14th November, 2012 is a special law to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation. It provides precise definitions for different forms of sexual abuse, including penetrative and non-penetrative sexual assault, sexual harassment.
There are other specific legislations enacted relating to trafficking in women and children Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, apart from specific Sections in the IPC, e.g. Sections 372 and 373 deal with selling and buying of girls for the purpose of prostitution.
For dealing with cross border trafficking and to address the various issues relating to prevention of Trafficking, victim identification and repatriation and make the process speedy and victim-friendly between India and Bangladesh, a Task Force of India and Bangladesh was constituted. So far five meetings of the Task Force between India and Bangladesh have been held.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Bangladesh on Bi-lateral Cooperation for Prevention of Human Trafficking in Women and Children, Rescue, Recovery, Repatriation and Reintegration of Victims of Trafficking was signed in June, 2015.
To prevent human trafficking, The Ministry of Home Affairs has established an Anti Trafficking Cell to deal with matters relating to law enforcement response on Trafficking in human beings, excluding legislative, welfare and promotional aspects. The Cell provides suitable guidelines to the States/UTs from time to time for strengthening law enforcement response in tackling human trafficking. It also acts as an interface with other Ministries like the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Ministry of Railways, etc to address the issues of human trafficking.
The problem still
Organised trafficking cannot take place without corruption. Human trafficking occurs with the collusion of corrupt officials with criminal gangs. Corruption in the trafficking in persons cycle: allows the crime to be invisible. They protect brothels that exploit victims and protect traffickers and brothel keepers from arrest and other threats of enforcement.
Conclusion
The crime of human trafficking hinges on the exploitation of another person. People often falsely believe “human trafficking” implies victims must be moved from one place to another to be a victim. Human trafficking does not require transportation to be considered a crime. It is a crime that can be committed against an individual who has never left his or her hometown.
You can help play a role in ending human trafficking by learning key indicators of the crime, raising awareness of human trafficking within your community or industry, and reporting suspected trafficking incidents. Individuals working in particular industries or with specific audiences may be more likely to observe human trafficking by nature of their day-to-day job duties or surroundings.
Kommentare